Microsoft to End Delta Updates and Use Express Updates Making Updates Seamless

Microsoft announced the ending of its monthly distribution of Windows 10 ‘delta updates’ and has urged organizations to use express updates instead. With express updates an organization’s computing environment will only receive Windows 10 software changes from it’s CDN.

Express updates generate differential downloads for every component in the full update based on several historical bases. For example, the latest May LCU contains tcpip.sys. We will generate a differential for all tcpip.sys file changes from April to May, March to May, and from the original feature release to May. A device leveraging express updates will use network protocol to determine optimal differentials, then download only what is needed, which is typically around 150-200 MB in size each month. Ultimately, the more up to date a device is, the smaller the size of the differential download. Devices connected directly to Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), System Center Configuration Manager, or a third-party update manager that supports express updates will receive these smaller payloads. Mike Benson @ Microsoft

Microsoft designed three different update types:

Full updates have all the necessary components and files that have changed since the last feature update. We refer to this as the latest cumulative update, or LCU. It can quickly grow to a little over 1 GB in size, but typically stays that size for the lifetime of that supported version of Windows 10.

Express updates generate differential downloads for every component in the full update based on several historical bases. For example, the latest May LCU contains tcpip.sys. We will generate a differential for all tcpip.sys file changes from April to May, March to May, and from the original feature release to May. A device leveraging express updates will use network protocol to determine optimal differentials, then download only what is needed, which is typically around 150-200 MB in size each month. Ultimately, the more up to date a device is, the smaller the size of the differential download. Devices connected directly to Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), System Center Configuration Manager, or a third-party update manager that supports express updates will receive these smaller payloads.

Deltaupdates include only the components that changed in the most recent quality update. Delta updates will only install if a device already has the previous month’s update installed. For example, assume in May that we changed tcpip.sys and ntfs.sys, but did not change notepad.exe. A device that downloads the delta update will get the latest version of tcpip.sys and ntfs.sys, but not notepad.exe. Delta updates include the full component (not just the individual files) that changed. As a result, they are larger than express updates, often around 300-500 MB in size.

Microsoft has now announced that Delta updates will be discontinued because they had larger file sizes from 300 MB to 500 MB as compared to express updates that possess individual files. Microsoft now urges companies to use express updates because of their ability to lower bandwidth hits for monthly Windows 10 quality updates. Also, they are a better mechanism of distribution for monthly quality updates.

The discontinuance however will not happen until February 12, 2019 in order to provide organizations and third-party update management tools time for implementing support for new express updates.

Maira is a system analyst for the last 10 years. She likes to explore, experience and understand new technologies shaping the future. She was a key member of the MUM "Mera Urdu Messenger"s (R&D) team, the first ever Urdu messenger released by CRI in the 90s.